Latches and flip-flops are widely used state elements. Latches are state elements that hold a particular state for a half clock cycle, whereas flip-flops are state elements that hold a particular state for a full clock cycle. Latches have two common modes of operation, transparent mode and hold mode. New data can be written directly to a latch in transparent mode. Meanwhile, a latch in hold mode blocks the writing of data to the latch and stores previous data in the latch.